and consequently vastly enlarge the Natural Understanding in order to it's forming at the same time so many Thoughts and Conceptions It may be that an Angel or a Human Soul in a Spiritual Body has greater Capacities than we conceive and is all Hands and Eyes and Fars and Tongues and can clearly discern and hear and discourse and act upon a whole Nation But after all a finite Creature with the mere Strength of a Creature cannot comprehend the Universe Therefore an Angel or a Human Spirit cannot have all Power given him except God be with and in him in the manner aforesaid Likewise God may set up particular Kings in particular Places and give them vast Dominions and oblige their Subjects to be uncovered in their Presence and to bow the knee before them But in order that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow of Things in Heaven and Things in Earth and Things under the Earth and that Christ may be enabled to receive these Homages and to govern the Universe and dispose fitly of all Creatures it is necessary that the Divine Majesty and Power and Wisdom be with and in this Man in the manner aforesaid Thus all the Lines of a Circle terminate to an individual Point in the Center A Spider circumscribed by and fixed in a Place teaches of its self no further than that Place but when it has weaved it's Web it may by the Means of those wonderful Threads act at a Distance from it's self and above it's own Power A Man with a Telescope pierces the Skies and discovers undiscerned Stars All this and infinitely more is the Divinity to the Man Jesus Christ He is in the Center of God and the Godhead is to him an infinite Circle all the Lines whereof as far as is necessary act upon him and uphold him and so he acts thereby The Influence of the Divine Nature dwelling in Christ and extending it self all over the Universe is the mighty Telescope whereby Christ sees all things and the infinite Web by which he is enabled to act every where And this acting is to be ascribed to him as well as to God or the Father and to him in this respect primarily or chiefly inasmuch as God doth all things in the Christian Oeconomy upon Christ's Account and at his Desire Indeed Christ wills nothing but what God wills But then God is pleas'd and willing now to do many things for the Sake of Christ and through his Mediation which He would not have done if it had not been for his Undertaking and his free and wonderful Condescension and Humiliation for the Race of Mankind and the Merit of his Death and the Covenant of Grace purchased by his Blood and his continual Intercession at the right hand of the Majesty on high Thus God and Christ are to be considered and sought to and honoured and worshipped and the Distinction that is to be made between them is evident God is of himself God and his Dominion is ever the most Supreme and thus He is to be Worshipped And Christ receives all things of God and his Kingdom is a Mediatory Kingdom and he is thus to be Worshipped And this is the Primitive and Scriptural Notion of Christ's Divinity The Heathens were particularly Criminal in these 3 respects 1. They set up of their own Heads and without any Warrant or Command some Mediators and some Symbols and Schechinas which they worshipped with likewise devised strange Rites and they made the Chiefest Part of their Religion to consist in the Worship of these they had such a vast Number of them 2. They set up many Supreme Gods Yet 3. They passed by the true God and worshipped Creatures and many of them Most Vicious Wicked Creatures for their Supreme Gods Which is the Meaning of Gal. 4 8 and Rom. 1 25. Whereby Religion became perfectly corrupted and unfit to purify Men and actually did as much harm as it was designed to do good Wherefore God would be own'd for the Only true God and requir'd to be Serv'd and Obey'd as such so willed that Men should not introduce any thing in his Service but what they had express Warrant for from Him either by the Light of Nature or the Light of Positive Revelation And that is the Meaning of Deut. 6 13. and Matth. 4 10. But all this hinders not but that tho' God is the Only Absolute and Independent Being who Only is to be Served as such and who Only is to be Worshipped with Ultimate or Divine Worship and who Only is the Fountain of Honour so that None besides Him ought to be Honoured but Those whom He Honours yet for all that Others besides God may when God pleases be Served and Honoured in an Inferiour Degree Relatively and in Obedience to God and so to his Glory and He may appoint a Mediator thro' whom We may come to Him Ephes 2.18 John 20 31 Phil. 2.11 God requiring it in order to his Glory and so it being done to that intent that is actually to glorify God and so is not to give his Glory to Another but to Himself Himself Only being ultimately served thereby See the aforequoted 18th Chap. of the 5th Book of Limborch's Theologia Christiana § 10. and an Vnitarian Pamphlet intituled A Vindication of the Worship of the Lord Jesus Christ P. 23 c. We may then incontestably Serve and Honour our Lord Jesus Christ as our Mediator and Mediatory King as was said tho' God Only is to be Served and Honoured as the Most Supreme and as the Eternal Fountain of Honour At the 11. Ve. of the 2. Ch. of the Phil. as we have intimated the Apostle shews expresly how that Matter ought to be distinguished when he says that it is God's Will we should honour and worship our Saviour and subject our selves to him and own him as our Lord viz. to the Glory of God the Father So that as was said it is evident the Honour we are to give to Christ is a Mediatory or Inferior Honour and is not ultimately to terminate on him but on the Father for whole Sake and at whose Command the said Honour is paid Howbeit tho' the Worship of Christ be not properly the Most Supreme yet it may be termed a Divine Worship in that Sense that Christ is said to be God We must needs then observe with St. Hilary concerning the difficult or figurative Expressions of Scripture that they are to be understood with Reason or in a reasonable sense Vâ—rba non Sono sed Sensu sapiunt Thus we may understand how Christ is God how we are to Call upon his Name and how he is to be Worshipped All Soveraigns are jealous of their Honour the Soveraigns of Great Britain would not endure that Wro-would of their Subjects should have Guards or should be served Kneeling Yet they freely allow it to their Lieutenant or Deputy because the Glory of it terminates to them For tho' the Lord Lieutenant be
Common Parent of his Creatures and that by the Son or a Son of God in general we must understand a Child of God a good Man by excellency or one extraordinarily belov'd of God Act. 4 27. As to the Texts which are said to shew that Christ is to be Pray'd to nothing need absolutely be added to what has been represented by the Vnitarians upon this Subject howbeit the Reader is to be reminded Vnitarians give a very fair account of these Texts for it is evident that those Texts either import that Believers are now denominated by the Name of Christ and look for Salvation thro' his Redemption and Mediation and plead in that Name with Almighty God in daily Prayers or else they set forth only the Wishes of zealous Souls in a pious Discourse or Epistle not in the Solemnity of a regular Prayer or they are instances of Men asking some favour of Christ when he was seen present and appear'd to be spoken to or they may incontestably be interpreted in another Sense than that which they are alledged for as the 15th Verse of the 72d Psalm which literally is spoken of Solomon and which in the Version of the Psalms in the Common-Prayer Book is translated Prayer shall be made unto him but in the Version in the Bible thus Prayer shall be made for him In a word no one Text can be produced expresly requiring that generally Christians here upon Earth since Christ's Ascension should directly Pray to him in Heaven should not fail to do it regularly constantly Indeed as was said the Generality of the Vnitarians hold that Christ may be Prayed to tho' not as being expresly or properly God Almighty himself Christ as Grotius observes on Col 1.16 being properly a Man yet as being our Intercessor with God and as being the Vicegerent of the Universe and the Mighty Prince who most eminently represents God who in the stead of God and next to God commands to all Creatures who under God disposes of all things and can do all things in whom God dwells who is most intimately united with God and whom God continually directs and assists What the Papists groundlesly pretend and assert of the Saints in Heaven and of the Holy Angels is incontestably true of Christ He is our Mediator with God and we may think seeing God dwells in him he sees in God all things necessary for him to know Howbeit undoubtedly it is sufficient to Pray in his Name to God because in so doing we recommend the subject of our Prayers to him founding all our Expectations on the Acceptableness of his Mediation with God and at the same time we discharge our Duty to God acknowledging that our Mediator and Mediatory King holds all his Power and Soveraignty in Subordination to God and from God's Bounty and Munificence The Lords Supper is a Feast upon Christ's Sacrifice a Commemorating of it with Thankfulness and a Renewing of our Engagements in the Gospel-Covenant with Almighty God in order to our partaking of the Merit of Christ's Death which we humbly present to and plead with God in that Holy Solemnity But this doth not necessarily imply a direct proper Worship of or Prayer to Christ but only a Religious Address to God thro' Jesus Christ The Feasts upon the Sacrifices were Common both among Jews and Gentiles but they did not imply an Adoration of or Prayer to the Victim that had been offer'd Here indeed it would undoubtedly be most proper to Sing Hymns in Praise of Christ but it is certain this Solemn Festival doth not absolutely require express Prayers to Christ There being then no express Injunction for Men directly and constantly to Pray to Christ and certainly therefore it being not absolutely necessary it follows that in our Terms of Communion we may content our selves to direct the Body or Current of our Prayers to God in the Name and thro' the Mediation of Christ and to address a few short Ejacularions to Christ as has been said And thereby certainly We both make that Distinction betwixt God and Christ that is to be made and acquit our selves of our Duty to each of them in this Matter For hereby we acknowledg the Father to be the Chief Director the Fountain of Wisdom and Power and Honour the Eternal Lord of himself God and King and always sitting the most Supreme at the helm and most principally steering the Universe and we acknowledg the Son to be both our Mediator with God and the Associate to the Empire of Heaven and Earth or the Universal Governor under God and constituted King of Men and Angels commanding to and disposing of all Creatures as he is directed by the Divine Wisdom and assisted by the Divine Power dwelling in him annexed to him and intimately united with his Soul or Spirit No more can be shewen to be requir'd of us And it cannot but be very unreasonable to find sault with the Vnitarians for this Worship which they pay to our Lord Jesus Christ or to declaim against them as Idolaters for serving such a Creature and putting their trust in such a Man It is evident the Vnitarians do not look on our Lord Jesus Christ as a mere Man and they have good reason to esteem him as a Creature that is Able to Save seeing the Scripture represents him as such a Creature as is sufficiently endued with Divine Power to that end And do not the Trinitarians believe Christ to be such a Creature Do they not believe Christ to be a Man Do they not confess that Jesus Christ is come in the Flesh 1 John 4.3 That this Jesus was a Man approved of God by Miracles which God did by him Acts 2.22 That this Man Jesus Christ the Righteous 1 John 2.2 was set forth to be a Propitiation Rom. 3.25 bare our Sins in his own Body 1 Pet. 2.24 and shed for us upon the Cross his most Innocent Blood thro' which we have Redemption Ephes 1.7 by which we are redeemed to God Revel 5.9 and by which we are washed Revel 1.5 and sanctified Heb. 13.12 Do they not believe that this Man after he had offered that Sacrifice sate down at the Right Hand of God Heb. 10.12 That him who was Slain and who Hanged on a Tree and whom God Raised from the Dead has God Exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour Acts 5.31 That this Man because he continueth for ever has an unchangeable Priest-hood wherefore he is Able also to Save them to the uttermost that come unto God bâ— him seeing he ever liveth to make Intercession for them Heb. 7.24 25. That thro' this Man is Preached the Forgiveness of Sins Acts 13.38 That having been Obedient unto Death even the Death of the Cross therefore God has given him a Name which is above every Name that at the Name of Jesus every Knee should Bow Phil. 2.9 10. Do not the Trinitarians believe that as the first Man Adam was made a living Soul so the
Second Man the last Adam who was formed by God and had God only for his Father has been made a quickning Spirit Power thus having been committed to him to raise the Dead and do all that God doth 1 Cor. 15.45 Do they not in fine know that God will judge the World in righteousness by that Man Acts 17.31 And will the Trinitarians renounce that Man their Saviour and reject their Lord their Judge their Redeemer Will they slight this Man will they not honour him whom God has appointed to reign with himself whom the Angels worship and who because he was Slain has been accounted worthy to receive Power and Wisdom and Strength and Honour and Glory and Blessing Revel 5.12 If they think it not unfit to honour this Man to reverence this Man to bow the knee to this Man as God has appointed it then they serve a Creature and worship a Creature and consequently use an Inferior religious Worship as well as the Vnitarians Let them not slander the Vnitarians then for thus acting and let them not impute it to them as a fault thus to honour the Man Jesus Christ to the Glory of the Father who could make such an Excellent Creature as this and could so highly Dignify and Exalt that Creature The Children of Israel at the same time Worshipped God and King David and were blameless 1 Chron. 29.20 And shall Christians be blamed for worshiping God and the King whom God has set over the Vniverse when Men every Day fall down before Earthly Kings and ask Petitions of them The Vnitarians worship the Lord Jesus Christ as such a King to the Glory and Religious Service of God not barely as a King but as such a one to whom all Power is given in Heaven and Earth Matt. 28.18 Would you then think it unfit to call upon such a Prince or to ask Grace and Salvation of Him for the sake of his precious Death and Passion Or do you think that He to whom all Power is given and the Spirit without measure and in whom the Father most intimatelydwells is not able to know your Wants and to hear your Requests To worship Christ is then in some measure to worship God since Christ not only is a God or Soveraign the King of Heaven and Earth under God and not only acts most eminently for God so as most eminently to represent God but Christ is the true Schechina the Divine Nature constantly dwells in him and all Power is given unto him He is then hon'red to the Glory of God by God's Order and so God as was said is worshipped in him There is then but one God properly that is religiously worshipped tho' Christ be called God and be worshiped to the Glory of God In all the Dominions of Great Britain and Ireland there is but one Soveraign tho' a Subject in the Isle of Man bears also the Title of Soveraign and tho' the Viceroy in Ireland represents the Soveraign and be honoured as the Soveraign Indeed the Vnitarians that did not Pray at all to Christ when they own'd him to be the Governor of the World under God had not sufficiently weighed the last quoted Text of Mat. 28.18 where all Power is said to have been given to Christ nor had fully consider'd that the Father who dwelleth in Christ can enable him to do all things and that therefore now at least Christ is such an excellent Creature as the Arians hold him to have been from the beginning namely as has himself incomparably more Perfections and Power than all the other Creatures together They needed then no more have doubted that Christ can Know and Supply the Needs of Men in the Rank and Order that He is set than they would have question'd that a Mother can Take care of her Family I know not therefore that there be now any Vnitarian that do not Pray to and Worship the Saviour of the World the Lord of Men Angels the Man Jesus Christ in the manner I have specified namely in a subordinate degree to God honouring him as the King of the Vniverse under God as be that governs disposes all things under God's Direction as well as mediates for Men intercedes with God who is still to be held and ever must necessarily be lookt upon as the Supream Vnitarians then can no more be accounted Idolaters for thus worshipping Christ than Irish-Men can be said to be Rebels for honouring their Viceroy as they do Christ then being thus Call'd upon nothing is ascribed to him that is inconsistent with the Unity of God a Man is not Worshipped as God but as assisted of God and most highly exalted by God and Trust is not put in a mere Creature but in one abundantly assisted of the Divine Nature That is therefore ultimately and properly to put our Trust in the God-head dwelling in Christ. And the Vnitarians account the Worship of Christ a Religious Worship no otherwise than as it is intended and appointed to the Glory of the Father as Christs acts for God at the Helm of the Vniverse and as the Divine Nature assists him dwells in him is as intimately united with him as possble and is made in a manner Part of his Being And is it not thus that the Trinitarians themselves adore God and worship Christ And then where is the Great Difference or the Great Fault and Defect of the Vnitarian System Would they adore God as the Human Nature of Christ Or would they the Trinitarians worship Christ's Human Nature as God The Vnitarians worship or honour the Man Jesus Christ as the most Dignified Creature and as most intimately United to God and God as the Supream Being The Trinitarians cannot reasonably do otherwise And they cannot deny that to honour Christ as has been said the Vnitarians do is to honour God and not to give his Glory to Another Indeed to honour a Being that God has not appointed to be honoured is to dishonour God But incontestably to honour one whom God has commanded us to honour to the Glory of God is to glorify and serve God in that Particular and so to worship God And God dwelling in Christ as he doth as has been shewn is honoured and worshipped in Christ by his own Appointment as already said As to John 5.23 declaring it to be the Will of God That Men should honour the Son even as they honour the Father an Equality of Honour is no more necessarily to be imagined to be intended and required here than an Equality of Perfection in those Words Be ye perfect even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect Mat. 5 48 or an Equality of Fear and Trembling before mortal and earthly Masters as before the King of Men and Angels in this Text Servants be Obedient to them that are your Masters according to the Flesh with Fear and Trembling in Singleness of your Heart as unto Christ. Ephes 6.5 The Sense of this Verse of the 6th of
the Ephesians is that as we would stand in aw before the King of Kings so in proportion of the Subordination Servants ought to demean themselves before their Masters The Sense of the Text of the 5th of St. Mathew is that as God is truly perfect so we ought effectually to strive to be perfect with that Perfection which our Natures are capable of And in like manner the Sense of the 23d Vers of the 5th of St. John is that as we honour God we must also honour his Deputy Vicegerent tho' nevertheless the one as properly God's Chief Minister as was said the other as expresly the Almighty himself The Kings of England may use the same Phrase to declare it their Will Pleasure That the Subjects in Ireland should honour the Viceroy even as they honour the King But that doth not imply that the one must absolutely be taken for the other consequently that is not to give the Supreme Royal Glory itself to the Viceroy no more than to honour Christ is to give expresly God's Supreme Glory to Another as the Arians do well observe besides that the Saying that God will not give his Glory to Another may signify that He will not give it to be dispos'd of that He will not give the disposition of it to Another or that He will not give to Another that Glory which is peculiar to Him of disposing of religious Honour and appointing Rites of Religion or that He will not give or impart a Sublime Heavenly Honour to Strangers or Aliens from Him neither will give his Praise to Idols that is He will not patiently suffer or allow that Men should make to themselves Objects of Religious Service at their Pleasure like the Heathens that the Religious Worship which is properly ultimately due to Him should be paid to Unfit Beings to Stocks Stones or to Daemons which are not truly in any holy scriptural sense Gods being neither the Supreme God nor Soveraign Officers of God commissionated with Power Authority thus to act for God so as most eminently to represent god and so to receive a Suitable Honour appointed to terminate ultimately to God So that God then doth not give properly the Religious Honour to Another tho' He commands us to bow the Knee to the Man Jesus Christ as we do to God If He pleased He might set Angels over Us or any Good Spirits and command Us to bow to them and ask and receive Graces of them tho' his Holy Nature cannot permit him to give any such Glory to his Enemies or ever to allow that Impure Spirits be sought to and reverenced That could not redound to God's Glory or the Good of his Creatures whereas the other might See a Passage of St. Gregory's quoted in the 1st Part of Bishop Taylor 's Sermon on Ps 86.5 where St. Gregery observes that Angels were Worshipped under the Old Testament But if so yet to be sure not only that was not a Divine Worship but even that Worship so far as it extended was for the sake of and terminated to God whose Immediate and Highest Officers and Messengers the Angels then appeared to be and so that hindred not but it might truly be said that God alone was properly Worshipped The Text Gal. 4.8 which we translate doing Service to them which By Nature are no Gods may be translated doing Service to them which TRUELY are no Gods yet it is the same if we read Of their Nature whether Supreme according to the proper and eminent sense of the word or Inferiour of God's creating and constituting according to the Scripture-Stile See Grotius on the Place Certainly we are expresly Commanded in Scripture to Serve the Man Jesus Christ Phil. 2.9 Yet incontestably the Man Jesus Christ properly is a God but in an inferiour sense We are then without doubt to serve the Man Jesus Christ as such a God appointed and dignified by the Supreme and Eternal God Act. 2.36 and we are to serve the Supreme God as absolutely being the Supreme God or as Him who is of himself God and who consequently is God in the most proper and eminent sense of that word Howbeit this doth not imply that Christ is not as intimately united with the Divine Nature as possible For all Power is given him in Heaven and Earth and acting for God in the highest Post he represents God at the Helm of the Universe But a Creature cannot thus represent God and govern the World and have all Power given it except God be with it and assist and direct it so as that that Creature have the enjoyment and disposition of the Divine Nature as of it's own Being whereby it's Power and Understanding being enlarged it may in a high measure Know and Act as God And accordingly as Sandius observes the Vnitarians held from the Beginning of Christianity that an Influence of the Divine Nature was incarnated in and most strictly united with the Man Christ Jesus So that Christ is not Worshipped neither is God's Representative or the Father's Universal Vicegerent merely as he is a Creature A mere Creature cannot comprehend in it's Thoughts and under it's Care the whole Universe and can never be such a Representative of the Father 's at the Helm of the Universal Government Nor can a mere Creature be Worshipped by all the Creatures in the Universe as Christ by God's Appointment is to be It seems God neither can nor will be thus represented by any Creature as a Creature Christ then is God's Representative and is Worshipped in his Mediatory Kingdom over the whole Universe Inasmuch as an Influence of the Divine Nature most intimately Dwells in him Assists and Directs him and Worketh in and by him and Inasmuch as the Divine Majesty is Conspicuous in him and As by his Intercession and by the Merit of his Death and the Vertue of the Covenant of Grace and of his Union with God and his Exaltation he Disposes of the Divine Power in the Gospel-Oeconomy A mere Creature may have a vast Honor and Power but not like that which appears in Christ in his Government of the Universe Whereas God has given us two Eyes whereby we may perceive three or four Objects at a time at a certain distance and two Ears which may imperfectly discern some few several Sounds also at the same time as the Sounds of certain several Voices and of some Instruments and two Hands by which we may take hold of several Particies of Matter and strike ten Strings at a time and move a certain Mass and steer a Ship and but a narrow Understanding according to the present Needs and the Capacity of our bodily Organs God might give a freer Carrier to our Spirits and endue us with more noble and vaster Capaeities and give us two hundred or two hundred thousand Hands and Ears and Eyes and enable our Souls to use them all fitly in reference to so many several Objects in the same instant
in the aforementioned Irenicum Magnum and it's Apology If it be ask'd how it shall be known who are sincere and inquisitive Persons or what Points are so abstruse and intricate I answer that must be judg'd of by the Arguments of the different Parties And hereby I infer that Trinitarians and Vnitarians ought to bear with one another and so to order their Terms of Church-Communion as not to be a Stumbling-Block to or as not to fright away either of them because actually both of them bring so considerable Arguments in behalf of their Opinions that t is obvious sincere and considering Persons may not always be able to satisfy themselves which Side is most infallibly or most credibly Certain and after all when God is worshipped all is incontestably ador'd that is the Object of Divine Worship We are expresly commanded but to Pray directly to God in the Name or as the Disciples of Christ who hope to be heard for the sake of Christ and thro' his most acceptable Intercession and certainly as for Christ's Humanity it being a Creature and the Mediator between God and Men it is to be honour'd with a Mediatory or Inferior Honour As for the rest which then if rightly taken would be but a Speculative Difference the Trinitarians with seeming good cause are persuaded that their Reasons are not despicable And in the Apologia pro Irenico Magno it is shewn that the Vnitarian Arguments are far from being inconsidorable I do therefore conclude for Mutual Forbearance and Vnion upon the General Terms aforesaid For upon the Evidence of both Sides I conceive that this is a Controversy in which Men without being Faulty may mistake But against this my Sentiment some Object that that cannot be because some Texts of Scripture seem most Express against the Vnitarians and particularly the Beginning of St. John's Gospel It is therefore very just to consider what the Unitarians say to those Texts I might content my self to refer the Reader to their Brief History a Shilling Book to be had at most Booksellers wherein the several Texts of Scripture Objected to them are Explain'd from Genesis to the Revelation But in farther Vindication of my Proposal of the Scripture-Method of Church Vnion I am willing to give here an Ensample of the Vnitarian Explications to shew what they Answer in general to the Objection from this Topic. And because the Beginning of the Gospel of St. John is commonly reckoned to be most Decisive against them I have particularly pitched upon that to represent most evidently that even here they want not somthing to say for themselves that is probable enough tho it be not pretended that the Controversy is thereby wholly clear'd from all manner of Difficulty They that approve not that things be thus offer'd to be consider'd run to the implicit and slavish Faith of the Romanists and take away that Liberty which not only the Principles of Protestants allow of and recommend but which is necessary to debate and examine difficult Matters and to attain with rational assurance to the Truth CHAP. II. The Socinian Explication of the Beginning of St. John's Gospel ST John begins thus his Gospel In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God c. The Socinians esteem that the Primitive Christians understood these terms according to this System Verse 1. In the Beginning The Christian Oeconomy being founded upon the Mediation of Christ on the account of his being appointed thereunto and of his being a Man perfectly Innocent and Obedient even unto Death and not only Fallen Men being granted to the Messiah but all Creatures in Heaven and Earth being subjected unto him upon the Conditions of his Undertaking the Reformation or New-Modelling of things by that Illustrious Dispensation is compared to the Old Creation described in the 1st Chapter of Genesis If God had not resolved to have sent a Redeemer and if the New Covenant had not taken place of the First Establishment the Race of Mankind had perished Therefore the Saving it is figuratively represented as Creating of it anew by the glorious Performance of the Blessed Jesus the Lamb in God's Prescience and Fore-ordination Slain from the Foundation of the World For when Adam fell God made a Resolution to send a new Man assisted of the Spirit without measure directed in all points by the Eternal Wisdom what to do and suffer to make a Reparation to the Divine Authority and to obtain the chief place in God's Favour and on consideration of his perfect Obedience and undeserved Sufferings constituted the King of Men and Angels and exalted to a Participation of the Divine Power always ready to work for him at his holy Request that he might be enabled to Save to the uttermost those that truely Repent and Turn unto God Wherefore God made a Gracious Promise to our First Parents and from that moment admitted them to Repentance But tho' these were the Effects of God's Resolution of sending Christ into the World and even then the Gospel began in some measure to dawn nevertheless the grand Operation and Manifestation of it was not then made Christ was not yet Born and consequently not Personally entered upon his Office The First Age of the World therefore tho' it was the beginning of the New Covenant granted upon Christ's account yet is not expresly reckon'd here as the beginning of Christ's Oeconomy That is taken properly to commence many Ages after when the Saviour of the World was come in Person to do the will of God and to Reform and New-model all things Then it is that there is represented as it were a New Creation made Our Evangelist sais at the 3d. Ver. of this Chap. that all things were made by Jesus Christ VVhich the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews thus expresses By his Son God made the Worlds Heb. 1 2. And in the 5th Verse of the 2d Chapter of the same Epistle as in all the four Gospels it is declared what those VVorlds were and what that Creation was Seeing then that the Christian Oeconomy is ushered in under the Image of a Creation it is no wonder that the Evangelist alluding to the History of the Old Creation begins his Gospel as Moses doth his First Chapter of the Genesis by these VVords In the beginning But it incontestably appears by the 1st and 2d Verses of the 1st Chapter of St. Mark 's Gospel what that beginning was Namely the beginning of Christ's Dispensation which is there shewn to have begun when the Messiah was introduced into the World by his immediate Harbinger John the Baptist The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God As it is written in the Prophets Behoâ—d I send my Messenger before thy Face c. Besides that our Evangelist had seen St. Mark 's Gospel as well as those of St. Matthew and St. Luke we know the same Holy Spirit that dictated to the one inspir'd also
the other wherefore we must explaine one Place of Scripture by another And we are to consider that St. John is writing the History of the Gospel of Christ We may therefore be sure that by the beginning here spoken of is meant the beginning of the New Dispensation that succeeded the Mosaical Oeconomy and that that New Dispensation began by the Preaching of the immediate Forerunner of the Saviour of the World For we see St. Mark calls that the beginning of the Gospel And thus 't is evident St. John begins his History by our Saviour's Instalment or his Entering into his Office which was at that time when John the Baptist was Baptizing and when our Saviour being Thirty Years Old was Baptized of him The Word The same term often denotes several things By the Spirit for instance several things are signified In like manner by the Word several things may be implied What here may be particularly meant thereby we are carefully to consiâ—er If every thing be duly weigh'd it will appear that our Evangelist to go on with his Allusion calls the Author of the New Creation by the Name of the Instrumental Cause to which the Old is attributed Heaven and Earth being represented in the First Chapter of Genesis as created by the Word of God And he had warrant enough to extend the Allusion so far and to bestow that Title to our Saviour seeing it was not unusual to give it to the Chief Officers of Princes See Grotius De Jure Belli et Pacis Lib. 2. Cap. 8. § 5. and seeing the Heavenly Messengers of God sent to execute his Commandments upon Earth were known to the Jews under the Name of his Word Ps 107.20 Wisd 18.15 16. Which last is the Angel by whom God smote the First-born of Egypt and who is call'd the Destroyer Exod. 12.23 which Name appears to be the Designation of the Office of an Angel 1 Chron. 21.12 The Author of the Wisdom of Solomon calls him the Almighty Word of God according to his most eloquent and figurative Stile not only to denote the Eminency of that Angel who was one of them that stand before the Divine Throne but also to declare his Swiftness and Ability in the executing his Commission and to illustrate the Fierceness of his Errand Philo calls the Angels Logous the Words of God as Dr. Allix himself observes There is nothing more common in Scripture than to put the Abstract for the Concrete as we see our Lord Jesus Christ constantly calls himself the Way the Truth the Life meaning that He shews the Way to Salvation that He teaches the Truth that He procures Eternal Life to all them that will obey Him By the same Figure He is call'd the Word that being as much as to say that He is He who brings the Word of God concerning the Eternal Gospel and who is commissionated to do and to declare the Will of God with respect to the Reconciliation of Fallen Mankind Thus Origen in Joh. 1. interprets it Seeing Christ is call'd the Light by reason of his Enlightning the World it is plain He is call'd the Word upon the Account of his Office c. See the Accounts why Christ is called the Word judiciously given by Pasor in his Manuale upon the word Logos and by Beza in his Annotations on this First Verse of the First Chapter of St. John's Gospel where he observes that Nazianzen and dustin give the same Reason with Origen why Christ is called the Word or God's Word-Bearer by excellency or the most Eminent Minister and Executor of God's Commands Was. The Word was in the beginning of the New Oeconomy That is to say While John the Baptist was Preaching to the Jews Christ was then in the World and was then the Person whom God intended and took for his Chief Word-Bearer And the Word was with God This design'd Embassador of God and Interpreter of the whole Will of God in whom the Divine Wisdom and Authority did most Eminently reside and most Conspicuously shine who was all his Life-time most Extraordinarily Inspir'd and Assisted of the Holy-Ghost and of whom it was foretold before his Nativity that He should be a Prince and a Saviour that He should Save his People from their Sins and that of his Kingdom there should be no End the World having been created for him that thereby God might be glorifiedâ— this most Illustrious Person was upon the Entering on his Office caught up to the Highest Heaven that He might behold the Glory to which he was called that He might converse with God in the eminentest Place and with the brightest Circumstances of Glory that He might there be most Solemnly endued with the Divine Wisdom and Power and that He might there have the Honour to receive immediately from God his Commission and to be most particularly taught by God Himself what he was to do and suffer and how much reason there was for him constantly to undergo and perform all this See John 12.49 50. John 8.38 John 6.51 c. Thus In the beginning the Word was with God whether both in his Body and Soul or with his Soul only it matters not for the Mind properly is the Man The Spirit of the Holy Jesus was then taken up into the Highest Heaven For he sais himself expresly John 3.13 that no Man before Ascended up to that Heaven but He who came down from thence even the Son of Man by excellency who was in Heaven or had been caught up into Heaven For every one that understands the Original knows that the Participle which here our Version hath Translated is may as well be Translated was And accordingly it is thus Translated by Beza Erasmus Camerarius and others on the Place John 3.13 And the Word was God And this Holy and Immaculate Person that was to be the Great Messenger of the Gospel and the Author and Procurer of Salvation was then Installed in his Office He was then Ordained and Sanctified and Sent into the World He was Solemnly constituted the Messiah He was appointed the Chief of the Chief of the Arch-angels as well as of the rest of the Angels He was made partaker as much as possible of the Divine Nature and particularly of the Divine Wisdom and Divine Power on certain conditions only his fuller communicating to others the Divine Spirit was reserv'd to his actual Reigning in Heaven after his Resurrection and most Glorious Ascension In a word He was declared to be upon the performing of his Undertaking the Heir and Lord of every Creature He was then on these Terms Proclaim'd God's First Minister He was thus even then made a Prince a Lord a Sovereign acting for God and by God's Commission And that is what the term God often signifies in Scripture That most Noble and Glorious Name is there given to Persons commissionated by God in most eminent Stations not only because they are God's Chief Ministers but because acting for and as it were
or else as was said it seems there can be shewn no connection or coherence in his Reasoning For so it would run according to the Trinitarian Exposition Jesus answered them are not some Men called Gods in Scripture How can ye then say of Me that I Blaspheme because what I say implies I am the Most High God CHAP. III. A Continuation of the Socinian Explication BUT it is time to go on to what remains to be explained of the beginning of St. Johns Gospel We have done with the First Verse wherein it is generally thought there lies the greatest Difficulty In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God That last Clause the Word was God may seem to most of us the hardest expression that was of speaking not being usual with us as was observed But at the same time we have seen that the Scripture calls Kings and Great Men Gods I have said Ye are Gods We have no reason therefore to think it strange that the Messiah the Highest Officer in the World the Prince of Men and Angels and the King of Kings should be also honoured there with the most Illustrious Title that was ever given to any in the most eminent Station and be accordingly called God or a God or Sovereign Lord. The Scripture called them Gods unto whom the Word of God came John 10.35 That is to say those whom God made his Chief Officers and to whom God gave Commandment and Commission to act in some measure in his stead Thus it appears Christ might well be called God the Mediatory Kingdom of the Universe being given â—im or he being made the Sovereign of all under the Father Which being set into so great a light we need but to paraphrase a few Verses more and give some reasons for our Exposition of one Expression or two therein Verse 3. All that concerns the Establishment of the Christian Oeconomy and of the Christian Church which is the New Creation has been dene by Christ and by his orders and procurement Here on Earth having Preached the Doctrin of Repentance by his immediate Precursor and by his other Ministers as he had even done in some measure before his Birth by the Prophets and Patriarchs for it was upon his account that God sent them the Messiah being before them in God's Decree and they being therefore to be looked upon as the Messiah's Officers and what the Officers do being to be ascribed to him in whose Name or in whose Stead they act and himself having fully declared the nature and intendment of the Gospel He offered up himself as a Sacrifice for our Sins to God and thus having laid the Foundation of his Church confirmed his Doctrin by his Resurrection and innumerable Miracles and Commissionated his Apostles and Chief Disciples all which may be called the Building of his House which he purchased with his Blood He left this World Being alcended into Heaven He New-modelled things there too by his Presence He ordered and disposed them on a new foot and in a new manner For being exalted at the right hand of God He took possession of his Dignity and Authority of a Sovereign Prince in the Heavenly Places Angels were there then no longer God's Chief Ministers but were then most particularly subjected unto the Lord Jesus Christ and He appointed them their Stations or confirmed them in their Places and Offices and He daily gives them orders and commissions as he sees best for the Service of his Church and the Government of the Universe Yet it is not to be forgotten that Christ is but a Mediatory or Subordinate King having not his Kingdom of himself but from the Father and by the Fathers gift wherefore the Honour to be paid to Christ is not direct or ultimate but Inferior and Mediarory to the Glory of the Father Christ tho' a Sovereign and the King of a Creatures being the Father's Substitute or Sub-delegate and acting in the Father's Name and by the Father's Power and Wisdom And therefore he thus representing God at the Head of the Universe we accordingly honour him and worship the Divine Wisdom and Power in him Verse 4. In him was Life God was with him directed and assisted him and dwelt in him By him then Life was procured to fallen Mankind And the Light of his Doctrine of his Works and Miracles and of the Spirit or Divine Inspiration dwelling in and communicated by him was the Life of Men He brought Immortal Life to light thro the Gospel And God gave him Power to give Eternal Life to his Obedient Disciples Verse 9. That was the true Light which coming into the World lighteth all Men Jews and Gentiles Our Saviour when he appear'd in the World did not design to instruct a particular Nation only but purposed to set up such a Light as might shine to the utmost Parts of the Earth Verse 10. This Great Messenger of God appear'd among Men and Men were as it were a new Created by him for He Redeemed the Race of Mankind with his Blood yet the generality of Men perceived not that that Illustrious Person was Him whom God did set forth for their Saviour Men loved Darkness rather than Light tho' it was so abundantly and so mercifully offer'd them Verse 11. He came unto his own c. If God had not intended to have given a Saviour to Men as was said He would have destroyed this World but having resolv'd in the case of Man's Fâ—ll to provide a Redeemer God had this Intercessor in his eye and mind when He created our Heaven and Earth and some understand in that Sense those expressions that in the beginning the Word was with God that from the beginning this illustrious Messenger was design'd to be the Messiah to be the Sovereign of the Universe to be the great King most eminently representing God and the general Governor for God and in God's stead at God's right Hand and that therefore God made this World by him that is to say for him and so by him intentionally the business of his Dispensation to the highest Glory of God being the final Cause of the Creation of this World and accordingly when our Saviour let upon his Office God upon the Conditions of his Undertaking gave Mankind to him to be saved and reform'd by him particularly those that had some good dispositions and primarily and especially the People of the Jews These were then his own most peculiarly He made them As it is said in the foregoing Verse he had made the World or the World was made by him in that he preserved them and all the World by his Undertaking seeing that without it after Adam's Fall Mankind had perished like the fall'n Angels He ought then truly to be considered as the Maker of Men or as the Person from whom all fall'n Men held their Life and Being And therefore without doubt fall'n Men and among them the Jews in particular his Countrymen
is to know them to know the Father will do them for him and to desire them of the Father For tho' it be said that Christ did and is to do most wonderful Works yet the Scripture is very far from saying that he doth them of Himself or by his own Power Himself says the quite contrary John 5.19 The Son can do nothing of himself John 14. â—0 The Father that dwelleth in me He doth the Works Matth. 12.28 I cast out Devils by the Spirit of God And John 11.41 42. Father I thank thee that thou Hearest me always How could Christ have declared more expresly that he doth not the Supernatural Works by his own Power but by the Means which have been said Namely By knowing that the Father will do them for him and By desiring the Father to do them by his Divine Power and by what Means He pleases to use Seeing that the Father has promised our Saviour to hear him always he may truly say that all things which the Father has are his And therefore it is certain that not only there never was such another Prophet as Christ but also that he is the most Excellent and most Dignified Creature that can be But yet we see it doth not follow that because he doth what none but God can do he is therefore hypostatically united with a Divine Person and that distinct from the Father The Scripture shews us How Christ doth all Supernatural Things he himself tells us he desires the Father to do them and the Father always grants his requests and doth what he desires and he desires nothing but what he knows the Father will grant and the Father has promis'd and constantly gives him whatsoever is necessary for the Discharge of his Office Christ then may truly say that as the Father has Life in himself or at his disposal so has he given to the Son to have Life in himself For as the Father doth all things by Willing them so Christ doth all things by Desiring them As God has put Power in the Natural Sun to vivify all Seeds in the Earth so he has in an infinitely more excellent way invested Christ the Sun of Righteousness with Power to quicken the Dead But still the Power of the Lord Jesus is the Divine Power And we see that as we have said God makes Christ to be Partaker thereof So that as the Father has Divine Power in him so has He given to the Son to have Divine Power in him insomuch that when the Father has shewn him a Miraculous Thing the Son can do the same likewise by the Assistance of the Divine Power which dwells in him and which he constantly has the use of by Willing and Asking or affectionately Desiring Thus Christ knows the Hearts by the same Means by the Divine Power that is in him or annexed to him and that reveals them to him See the Brief History of the Vnitarians on John 2.25 and Revel 2.23 So that as Dr. Sherlock himself says at the top of the 196th Page of his last Book the Knowledg of Christ is from the Father's dwelling in him And by that Means Christ Governs the Vniverse and will Judge the World As to Christ's Efficacy in obtaining Forgiveness for all those Sinners whom he persuades and excites to forsake their Sins and to become Obedient and New Creatures it is the strangest thing in the World to imagin that God cannot grant that which is altogether agreable to the Propensions of his own Nature to his most beloved Son even upon that Act and Submission of his which argues the most perfect Obedience and makes the most solemn Reparation to the Divine Justice and Authority As Dr. Whichcot expresses himself upon this Subject Pages 62 d and 63 d of his Select Sermons We are in the hands of him that is Primarily and Originally Good And He will certainly commiserate every Case so far as it is compassionable Now the Case of a Sinner is compassionable if he be Penitent God might then surely accept of Christ's Sacrifice as as sufficient Attonement seeing that it so fully confirms God's Hatred to Sin and his Good Will to those that Obey him and is consequently the powerfullest Motive and the likeliest Means to engage those for whom that Sacrifice is offered and who are not yet incorrigible to forsake their evil Ways to accept the Offers of Grace and to be reconciled to God Christ's Death is the fullest Confirmation of God's Good Will to those that obey him seeing that upon the account of his Son 's perfect Obedience He has exalted him to the highest Glory even of being Partaker of the Divine Nature and Power And it is also the fullest Confirmation of God's absolute Hatred to Sin seeing He would not pardon the Sins of Men without this Consideration Condition that he who was Innocent the most Perfect Excellent Creature pleaded for the Fallen Race of Mankind should as their Advocate suffer in their stead expiate their Sins with his Blood and thus exhibit a most solemn Demonstration of the Demerit of Sin But this no where is represented in Scripture as a perfectly equivalent Satisfaction in the most rigorous sense And neither Scripture nor Reason shew that God can Pardon but upon such Terms See the aforesaid Sermons of Dr. Whichcot Pag. 301 c. on Act. 13.38 As the Bishop of Gloucester observes at the 85th and following Pages of his aforesaid Reflections on the Book of Dr. Sherlock against him Christ's meriting of God the Father cannot be understood in the highest sense of meriting as we may merit of one another that is by doing acts of Kindness and Beneficeace from mere Good Will or no antecedent Obligation to the Person to whom the Kindness is shewn 'T is nothing but the wretched Popish Doctrin of Merit that has made it an offensive word in relation to God But taking Meritum and Mereri in the Fathers sense there is no offence to be taken at it as respecting God For they meant no more than having a right to be rewarded by him from the performance of that Obedience or Service to which he has annexed the reward by a most gracious Promise But as it is impossible to do God Almighty a Kindness or Benefit so I cannot understand how the Son of God himself could in this sense merit of his Father the Redemption of Mankind since he did or suffered by vertue of the Union nothing but what the Will of his Father obliged him unto Lo I come said he to do thy Will O God And his perfectly complying with this Will was his meriting our Redemption of his Father as He willed to make him the Author thereof upon that Condition And therefore Mr. Calvin says well Totum Meritum Christi pendet à Voluntate Divina Now will any Man say that Christ as Man did not thus merit Then by the most wonderful Submission and Self-Resignation of the Man Christ Jesus who was most
5. Cap. 18. The Author of the Humble Inquiry at P. 15th 16th of that Book observes this Doctrin concerning Christ's Human Nature being capable to know what passes upon Earth and so to see and hear and assist Men is so far from being with any justice or reason to be by the Trinitarians objected to the Vnitarian System that the greatest part and the most Learned of the Trinitarians agree with Socinus in this Point For the School-Men both Thomists and Scotists and the Lutherans generally ascribe this Universal Knowledge to the Man Jesus Christ And of the Modern Reformed Divines that Author quotes Mr. Baxter Dr. Goodwin together with a worthy Divine of the Church of England who wrote a Book called The Good Samaritan asserting that an Angel might be capable of Ruling the Universal Church on Earth now a Human Soul in a gross and fleshy Body is an Angel shackled and straitned in a dark and close Dungeon where he cannot exert his Powers and Faculties no more than an Infant can reason like a Philosopher but the Impediments being remov'd a Human Spirit is wise free powerful like an Angel knows as he is known perhaps can direct the Course of the Sun or move the Globe of the Earth as easily as a Child can a Tennis-Ball that the Man Jesus Christ as easily inspects the whole Earth as we can view a Globe of an Inch Diameter that he Intercedes particularly as Man and cannot be thought to Intercede in a Case if he do not know it that the Human Understanding of Christ takes in all Occurrences which concern his Church that like the Sun-Beams He pierces into every corner and that as a Looking-Glass wrought in the form of a Globe represents the Images of all that is in the Room so the enlarged Human Understanding of Christ takes in all things in Earth at once The Vnitarians would only add that Christ doth this by the Affistance of the Divine Nature dwelling in him and both enlarging and inlightning his Understanding And indeed if Christ acting in God's stead at the Head of the Universe represented not God to the Glory and Service of God and by God's Appointment and if the Divine Nature the Divine Knowledge Power and Authority dwelled not in the Man Jesus Christ as the Vnitarians hold their Worship of him would be a kind of Idolatry That is to say if the Father by his own Appointment was not worshipped in Christ in whom incontestably He most eminently dwells or which is the same if Christ was not appointed by God to be worshipped to the Glory of the Father to which end it is necessary that the Father should make him partaker of his Nature and Power as has been said for tho' the Foreknowledge of Christ be not Universal and tho' at sometimes he feels greater Influences of the God-head dwelling in him than at some other times yet he must always receive sufficient Influences thereof to enable him to discharge the Parts of his Mediatory Kingdom and the God-head by a Divine Power which is an Influence of the Father's must constantly refide in and be as intimately as possible United with Christ to make him the most eminent Divine Schechina and to capacitate him to represent as he doth and act for the Father at the Helm of Government over all things so that being such a Representative of God as neither is nor ever was the like besides Him He truly exhibits God and the Divine Majesty dwelling in him in a most extraordinary manner In a word We hold that no other is of himself God or properly and eminently God Eternal and Almighty but the Father And we own no other for Inferior Gods but such as are truly so according to the Divine Order and Appointment And we honour them accordingly But God only We worship with properly Divine Worship Howbeit We worship God mediately or relatively in the Person of his Representative and Chief Officer Jesus Christ who under God is the Soveraign Prince and Great Lord or God or Vniversal King who acts most eminently for God that God may be honoured in him and who is appointed thereto to be honoured and bowed to or worshipped to the Glory of God And so we may truly and allowably worship God immediately in his own Person and mediately in the Person of his Lieutenant and most eminent Representative appointed thereunto that God may be worshipped in him in the extraordinary Honour that is paid him 3. The Vnitarians unanimously hold that indeed we constantly are to bow the knee to and worship the Lord Jesus Christ in offering our Petitions to the Father in his Name and thro' his Mediation but that it is not necessary to address our selves otherwise than thus to him and that this is sufficiently to call upon his Name in Prayer And in the most ancient Lyturgies extant there are but very few words addressed to Christ Which shews that originally Christians addressed the current of their Prayers to the Father excepting when in a Vision they saw the Lord Jesus Christ and heard him speak to them which St. Paul acquaints us happened to him once in the Temple 2 Cor. 12.8.9 4. It cannot indeed reasonably be denied but that when God in general is Pray'd to and these Prayers are put up in the Name of Christ then both the Mediatory Honour due to our Saviour is thereby paid him and all is Supremely Worshipped that is to be Adored with Supreme or Direct and Ultimate Worship Our Lord assures his Disciples that whatsoever they shall ask the Father in his Name the Father will give it them John 16.23 No more then can be absolutely needful In a word the Vnitarians honour the God-head above all things and the Man Jesus Christ above all other Creatures What can the Trinitarians do more Or what can they in this Worship justly reprehend Both Christ and the Holy Ghost will nothing but what the Father willeth and they will all that the Father wills Manifestly therefore it is sufficient to address to the Father the Government of the Universe is but one Government tho' God be the Supreme and tho' Christ have a Soveraignty over all Creatures yet considering the Subordination and Good Order and considering the perfect Agreement of their Wills and Affections there is as it were but One Soveraign but the Father is alone in himself the One only true Soveraign the Soveraign properly and eminently all own He sustains the Chiefest Part in the Supreme Majesty Authority and Government CHAP. X. A Third General Objection consisting of Four Branches THE last General Objection which the Trinitarians commonly reckon to be decisive against the Vnitarian Interpretations and System may be conceived as comprising these Particulars and may be Summarily expressed in these Terms The Vnitarians their too much leaning to Human Reason is the Cause of their Error wherefore they should consider that Reason tho' an excellent Light and Guide so far as its Province
it were a Property or a Faculty of God Christ a Man and a Creature should have the Preheminence over it and be named before it and be honour'd above it If these things are unaccountable what do the Vnitarians get by their differing from the Trinitarians Then the remoteness of the Vnitarian Interpretations may in particular be argued by these Instances When the generality of Christians read these Texts that the Word is God and that by him all things whether in Heaven or Earth were made and created is it likely that it will come into their minds that thereby is meant that all things were New-modelled by Christ or that supposing that all things were created by him yet he is but a Creature that bears the Name of God If these Senses are so far from being obvious that we may imagine they can scarce so much as enter into the thoughts of any ordinary Christians is it credible that they are the true Meaning of those Texts For can We think the Holy Writers have so expressed themselves as that it should not be possible for the greatest part of Men to understand them We may then be confident 3. That several Texts of Scripture whether put together or taken asunder amount to a firm Evidence of the Trinitarian Sentiment Besides those aforementioned these seem express which call Christ by way of eminency the Son of God and which not only shew that Christ may and is to be Pray'd to but declare that God will have Men Honour the Son even as they Honour the Father Which it seems after all that the Vnitarians have said concerning the Worship of the Man Jesus Christ is an invincible Demonstration that the Son is God like the Father In fine the Trinitarians esteem all these Arguments may also be strength'ned by the following and last proposed Consideration 4. That it seems there is no express Text for the Vnitarian Doctrin or against the Trinitarians If the Vnitarians will confute the Trinitarian System let them produce any decisive Text for their Sentiment thereby they will incontestably shew that all the Texts which the Trinitarians alledge must be understood in the Vnitarian Sense but this the Trinitarians do defy the Vnitarians to do This is so weighty a Consideration that Dr. Sherlock thinks sit to inculcate and repeat it a great many times in his last Book intituled The Scripture-Proofs of our Saviour's Divinity explain'd c. To this purpose for instance Page 47. How harsh and unusual soever the Expositions of the Vnitarians might appear I should allow them to be very Reasonable had they first well prov'd that Christ is but a Creature that is in the Vnitarian Sense and not the eternal and almighty God himself for that alone would be reason enough to attribute nothing to him which cannot belong to a Creature Page 50. We must understand Words in a proper and natural Sense where there is no apparent reason for a Figure and here is none to take figuratively as the Vnitarians do these words God and Son of God when applied to Christ unless they think fit to assign his being a mere Creature Which indeed would be a very good reason could they prove that Christ is but a Creature Page 55. Could any Text be produced that proves Christ to be but a Creature that is the Dr. must mean as was before remark'd but such a Creature as the Vnitarians hold as most eminently acts for God represents God and is assisted of and united to God according to the Vnitarian System it would put an end to this Controversy and either excuse or justify all their other Interpretations of Scripture how harsh soever they might otherwise appear Page 58. The whole Controversy may be put upon this Issue if they can confute ours or establish their own Interpretations of Scripture so as to prove ours to be necessarily false and theirs consequently necessarily true c. CHAP. XI An Answer to the First Branch of the Objection TO the Four Branches of the foregoing Argument the Vnitarians answer in these Four Particulars 1. The Vnitarians do not lay the whole stress of their Cause upon Arguments drawn from Reason yet very justly on the other hand they think like all Protestants that Reason ought not wholly to be Slighted 2. They maintain that none of their Assertions are uncredible and that their Interpretations are rational and agreeable to the stile and current of Scripture and therefore natural and obvious enough 3. It is possible and easy and warrantable to understand in an Vnitarian Sense all the Texts which the Trinitarians alledge for their Sentiment 4. The Vnitarians produce several Texts of Scripture which seem express and most evident for the Vnitarian System it manifestly appearing that they are not susceptible of any other tolerable Sense or that they cannot tolerably be reconciled to the Trinitarian Sentiment so that if Men do not own and discern the force of them it seems it must be either because they make no attention to them or because they are moved and acted by Passion blinded by Prejudice and Partiality and resolved not to acknowledge the Truth 1. The Vnitarians do not lay the whole stress of their Cause upon Arguments drawn from Reason yet very justly on the other hand they think like all Protestants that Reason ought not wholly to be Slighted If this Subject be duly consider'd it will be found that Protestants and Vnitarians do not differ in Principles concerning this Question What Vse of Reason ought to be allowed in Matters of Religion Now if it be so there can be nothing less pertinent than to make a Dispute about it or to pretend a Difference where there is none It is as if a Papist should make long Harangues to Protestants to prove that Scripture is the Word of God that God cannot be suppos'd willing to deceive Men and that therefore we must heartily assent to and firmly believe whatsoever is contain'd in the Bible Why Man What Protestant is there that knows not this or that denies it Protestants profess to believe the Holy Scripture as much to the full as any Member of the Church of Rome doth Pretty then make no Controversy about that Matter But if thou wilt do any thing to the purpose shew that Protestants reject some Doctrines certainly taught in God's Word In like manner Vnitarians maintain that a Protestant is out of the way who Quarrels with them about the Vse of Reason and they challenge him to shew that they make any other Use of it than Protestants themselves make in Matters of Religion So that whenever Protestants Quarrel with the Vnitarian Principles with relation to this Point they deviate from their own Rule and accuse their own Measures than which nothing can be more unreasonable and unwarrantable Either make not Use of the Principle or Quarrel not at a like Use of it If after all you think that Vnitarians make a different Use of Reason I say a different Use in
fine are not infallible which import that some certain and incontestable Truths are incumbred with any most express and unavoidable Contradictions It is certain that some Truths are above Reason to give an account How they are and those are true Mysteries but it doth not follow that they are contrary to Reason It were indeed the greatest Folly upon any Difficulties to deny any Thing which manifestly appears to be But if the Manner or the Things concerning those Difficulties were rightly stated understood they might appear to be free from Contradictions for real Contradictions cannot be true It is Men's rash Judgment then that concludes a Truth to be attended with Contradictions when really it is not so I doubt not but that those Systems if duly considered may be vindicated from Contradictions which assert that there is no Vacuum that Matter is divisible infinitely that Eternity consists in a perpetual Succession of Moments It is true We are not to lean too much to our own Understandings or to be stiff to our Prepossessions Imaginations without sufficient knowledge of the Cause and without due examination But then on the other hand it is known We are bid in Understanding to be Men to prove all things to the best of our power that is those things especially that concern our eternal Welfare And by that means God tries our Sincerity and our real Concernment for the most momentous Matters We must not then reject the Use of our Reason It is indeed certain and evident those are faulty and criminal who when Religion and Revelation are so well prov'd and credibly attested and confirmed dispute either of them because they do not know how things were created and with what Instruments God made the World as if He needed any or because they do not understand how God can forsee Events and why He permits Evil. No wise Man will agree that these Difficulties expresly imply unavoidable Contradictions And all good Men will grant that the grossest Solution of these Objections renders the Infidels utterly inexcusable Now what considering Christian will say that the said or any the like Objections are absolutely unanswerable The most difficult Objections incontestably are those of Spinoza and Bayle Yet we see them answered the one by the most Reverend Archbishop of Dublin in his Book De Origine Mali and the other by the Famous Dr. Henry More in the Second Part of his Metaphysicks There are some Answers to those Objections which need not take up above two Sheets and to which the Infidels can not reply with the least colour of Reason As to the rest the Reader may be referred to the 12th Chapter of the Apologia pro Irenico Magno which comprises a general Answer to the Objections against the Vse of Reason Yet certainly it is not necessary that all Difficulties against Religion should expresly be answered It is undoubtedly sufficient that it be solidly prov'd and that it appear most rational and credible And when we are assured that God says any thing we may rationally believe it and ought in reason to do so notwithstanding any seeming Difficulties inferior to a stronger and clearer Evidence Howbeit on the other hand that the Inferiority of such Difficulties be most fully evinced the essaying to resolve Difficulties as much as possible ought by no means to be discouraged For if things be duly considered Religion will then be sufficiently vindicated and illustrated and otherwise it may often be sadly misrepresented and corrupted as well as wretchedly exposed to the Calumnies of the Infidels CHAP. XII An Answer to the Second Branch of the Objection 2. THE Vnitarians maintain that none of their Assertions are incredible and that their Interpretations are rational and agreable to the stile and current of Scripture and therefore natural and obvious enough 'T is certain on the one hand the Trinitarian Tenets are most strange and unintelligible and on the other the Stile of Scripture like that of all Eastern Languages is most figurative Now this being duly weighed and it being withal consider'd that Reason is a Divine Light that ought not wholly to be slighted if some constraint is to be made either to some Difficult Expressions that may be taken with the help of a warrantable Figure in an accountable Sense or to the Common Notiont of Mankind that cannot be reconcil'd with the literal or first seeming import of those Expressions what course in this Case is it most pious and rational to take The Trinitarian Objection it self implying that what is incredible is to be rejected decides the Matter The chief Instances of the pretended Remoteness of the Vnitarian Interpretations are particularly concerning the Vnitarian Expositions of Christs Creating all things and in what Sense the Word is said to be God c. Now to the latter the Vnitarians observe that if we will understand that Text aright we must not determine our selves about the Sense of it before we have considered what the Scripture elsewhere teaches as well as Reason concerning this Person that is here called the Word and that if it appear that thereby a Creature is meant as even according to them it evidently doth then there can be no difficulty in explaining the Title of God which is attributed to the Word but we must necessarily take it in an Inferior Signification in which it may be applied and we find it is sometimes in Scripture communicated to a Creature especially our Saviour himself accordingly warning us that some Creatures in Scripture are called Gods John 10.34 35. Angels in the Original are termed Gods Ps 8.5 c. And it was common among the Heathens to give that Title to others beside those whom they accounted the Supreme Gods The giving then of that Title to some Creature in an Inferiour Sense was not at all unintelligible either to Jews or Gentiles Indeed one of the Designs of Christianity was to inform the Pagans that there are not many Gods in the supreme or proper Sense of that word but only One such God to whom alone Divine Worship is due But the Gospel never intended to signify that there are not many in Heaven and Earth that may be termed Gods in an inferior Sense according to the Scripture as well as the Gentile-Stile If St. Thomas directed his Speech to Christ in that exclamation My Lord and My God he might mean no more than if he had said My Prince and My Soveraign The Trinitarians own that by the Word in the beginning of St. John's Gospel is meant Christ Now Reason it self shews us manifestly that we must not take Christ to be the Supreme God For Christ is a Man and was always own'd to be but one Person but God is a distinct Spirit and consequenly a distinct Person for an intelligent Being whether Divine or Human has all that is requisite to the constituting of a Person and so cannot always but be a distinct Person two Spirits then must needs be two Persons
Majesty and Authority dwelling in him It has been necessary to make all these Digressions particularly concerning the Holy Spirit further to illustrate the Arian System concerning the Holy Spirit 's Nature and Person as well as that of the Word in order to shew â—â—â—st evidently that tho' the Word the H. Spirit were Instrumental in the Creation of the World yet the Arians need not be understood to make three Creatours properly nor three Gods according to the groundless imputation of the Platonick and Scholastick Trinitarians Not but that the Word might and did from the beginning bear the Title of God in an Inserior Signification even if it were but inasmuch as he represented God and commanded in God's stead or in God's Most Supreme Authority to the Highest Creatures next to Him to settle which Honour upon him extend it in the Highest Degree and so to continue it to him in the Oeconomy of the Gospel God required this Condition of him that he should freely undertake the Redemption of Mankind for otherwise Mankind had perished and consequently the First-Born tho' he had continued as he was remaining Innocent should not have had Men for his Subjects Howbeit the Arians do not say that the created Word is eternal and infinite and self-existent or self-moving nor consequently that he has all Perfection or any Perfection and Power of himself now every one knows this is the Description of him who is literally and properly God and this belongs only to the Father and therefore with the Apostle it may well be said that tho' there be many who are called Gods in Heaven and Earth yet the Vnitarians or true Christians do hold but One who literally is God all which may be 〈…〉 be God belonging to the Father Nevertheless the Word not only most eminently Representing God under the Oeconomy of the Gospel but being most 〈◊〉 United with the God-head as has been shewn an Influence of the Fathers 〈…〉 Virtue constantly dwelling in him so as to become in a manner Part of his 〈◊〉 in that Sense probably he may also bear the Title of God and may very 〈…〉 so tho' there be no other Divine Person but the Father And God Almighty then in the 〈…〉 all by the Ministry and by the Mediation or at the Request and upon 〈…〉 the Word as also the Word doing all in the Name and Power of God 〈…〉 he Word doth herein is truely censed or reputed to be done by God and what God doth also in that respect may be said to be don by the Word For Instance If God directs the Word to send one of his Angels on a certain Errand both God and Christ may be said to have sent that Angel If God says that He will com shortly meaning in the Person of his Word and Divine Schechina it follows that tho' Christ says also that he will com shortly yet God and Christ the Word of God by excellency need not be confounded together Which Title the Word was originally given him as was intimated in that he was designed to direct or signify and carry the Commands of God to the Creatures immediately under him in order to have the Will of God every where notified and put in execution accordingly So God says by him Let this be don and it is don himself shewing the Example of Obedience and doing what is incumbent upon him God having shewn him what is to be don for the Matter for instance being prepared and God working first thereupon the Word then with the Divine Assistance doth all that he sees the Father do and he sets the Angels a doing all that they are enabled to perform And so in the beginning the Work was effected in disposing the Chaos into the Beauty and Order and Regularity of a World the Word being the General under God And what could be Impossible to such a Creature assisted of God as has been said It is to be noted that not the Word but the Holy Spirit is call'd the Power of God because since the Creation it is by the Holy Spirit that ordinary Miracles are commonly wrought So that properly or chiefly the Office of the Word now especially is to command and that of the Holy Spirit or of the holy Angels is to execute After all there is nothing so express in Scripture concerning this intricate Subject but that many may opine that the Socinian System concerning the Holy Spirit or the Manner of the Creation attributed to Christ may be the truest Nevertheless it is certain several Passages seem very much to favour the Arian Hypothesis and there is nothing in it that is absurd or in it self incredible and apparently impossible As to the other Instances which the Trinitarians give of the pretended unaccountable Assertions held by the Vnitarians they are much easier than the former to be accounted for and have indeed but little difficulty in them The next Instance is That one in whom the Fulness of the Godhead dwells should need the Assistance of Angels The Answer to this is that the Vnitarians do not say the Godhead needs the Assistance of Angels but only for divers reasons some of which have before been intimated is pleas'd to make use of their Service And it cannot becom the Trinitarians to find this strange seeing they hold Christ to be personally-united with the Deity and yet they know the Scripture in many Places teaches that the Angels minister to him and are employed by him an Angel assisted and strengthned and comforted him in his Agony and when he was apprehended he said that if he would have resisted he would have made use of the Protection of Angels of whom he might presently have had more than twelve Legions for the asking It seems indeed unaccountable that a God Almighty or a Person that were God Almighty should employ Angels in his own Defence But the Indwelling of the Godhead in Christ makes him not properly and literally to be the Almighty God but only imports that God in every respect illuminates him and assists him by what Means He pleases and as far as is Necessary for the discharge of that most eminent Office of Redeeming Men of Declaring and Performing the whole Will of God Governing the Universe and at the helm of the World Representing God and Acting in the stead of God This Indwelling of the Fulness of the Godhead therefore hind'red not but that Christ somtimes might not Know som things and when it pleased God in the time of his humiliation particularly when for that while he was for the most part divested of the Glory which he had before the Creation of the World might have occasion for the Ministry and Assistance of Angels tho' probably it was he as was observ'd who at first assigned to every one of the Angels their Share of the concomitant and concurrent Divine Power which especially since his Exaltation as we have said they employ according to his Directions As to what is in